Thailand can be Asean food springboard
Thailand is well placed to become a springboard for Asean food exports to the world market as well as within the region itself, the National Food Institute said yesterday.
To support the growth, the NFI has urged small and medium-sized enterprises to integrate their cooperation with other Asean countries so that they have an improved raw-material supply and can benefit from new technologies.
Moreover, Asean should develop uniform food-processing standards by applying more global standards to ensure market access, the institute said.
The regional grouping should also seek ways to eliminate non-tariff barriers, such as sanitary and phytosanitary obstacles to trade, and anti-dumping duties so as to allow a genuinely free flow of goods and raw materials.
NFI director Petch Chinabutr said that while large enterprises already have a high capability of becoming more successful in the Asean market, SMEs should urgently seek to reap benefits from Asean integration by tightening cooperation among themselves and with other regional businesses.
Such a strategy will increase their production capacity to supply food products not only within Asean but also to the world market, he said.
The value of Thai food exports to the global market is expected to grow strongly under seamless trade in Southeast Asia once the Asean Economic Community becomes effective in 2015.
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"The AEC should help promote food export growth, as Thailand will have more sources of raw materials from other Asean countries, while this country has high potential to produce foods for supply to the global market," Petch said.
The NFI projects that Thai food exports will reach Bt1 trillion this year, against Bt964.5 billion last year. Exports to Asean nations are expected to grow from last year’s Bt198 billion to more than Bt200 billion.
The overall value of food exports in the first quarter grew by 15 per cent year on year.
Asean is the Kingdom’s largest market for food exports, accounting for 20.6 per cent of the total, followed by Japan at 14.6 per cent and the United States at 12.8 per cent.
With closer cooperation in food production between Thailand and other Asean member states, the proportion of exports to the Asean market should reach 25-30 per cent in the next few years, said the NFI director.
Thailand, with its high standards and technology in food production, will be able to import raw materials from elsewhere in Asean and produce food for supply to other markets, including exporting back to Asean, he said.
Although labour costs in Thailand have increased and are higher than in many other Asean countries, the Kingdom still enjoys a high level of trust in its food processing for supply to many developed countries.
The country should promote its strengths and play the role of leading food producer in Asean, Petch said.
